RELIGIOUS TOURISM BEHAVIORS OF THAI TOURISTS IN PHUKET PROVINCE.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to review the religious tourism behaviors of Thai Tourists in Phuket Province. The study indicated that the majority of tourists were 26-35 year old single Buddhist men residing in the Southern provinces. They had an undergraduate degree and worked in a company earning 15,001 to 25,000 baht a month. Most of them visited two places, two or three times a year. The Thai tourists typically came by a personal cars to pay respect to the Buddha images and ask for blessings. They obtained information about the tourist attractions from their friends. Most of them had joined an activity to pay respect to Buddha images before. Most of the tourists made a decision to do religious tourism by themselves and they planned their own trip. They paid respect to Buddha images while visiting Phuket. Most of them came in a group of seven with the most popular traveling time the weekend.  They spent money on personal expenses, buying Buddha amulets, and overall spending less than 500 baht on souvenirs. If they had a chance they would come back and also recommend their friends to come visit. The respondents believed that the environmental factors affected religious tourism the most, followed by the social and cultural factors and then the economic factor. The factor affecting religious tourism the most was the physical factor. The next was place and process/service. The problems and obstacles of religious tourism were rated at a high level. They found that traveling to religious attractions was the biggest problem and obstacle. This was followed by the inconvenience of the religious attractions and the fact that there is often no public transportation.